This is a record of my journey as a Muslim. I used to be Catholic and belonged to a missionary organisation. After my conversion, I sat on the board of a Muslim converts' organisation and specialised in da'wah programmes, convert management, interfaith issues and apostasy cases. I am an initiate of a Sufi order. As such, the articles and writings tend to cover these areas.
All the Arabic and graphics could not have been done without the help of my wife, Zafirah.

Wednesday, 13 November 2013

Karbala: In the Shadow of Grief or in the Radiance of Glory?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following is an article by
Shaykh Harun Riedinger, also known as Shaykh Abu Faydan Faridi.

It is not my aim, nor does my
reading in Muslim history qualify me, to present here a historical portrait, or
a socio-political analysis of the forces that were prevalent within the ummah
after the fourth and last of the Rightly-Guided caliphs, ‘Ali ibn Abi Thalib (k.w.),
had been assassinated, which brought about the situation and developments that
led to the confrontation at Karbala in the early second half of the first hijri
century. There is also hardly any need
for it either, since there is ample material of that sort available, compiled
by more learned persons than myself, and, moreover, those aspects of the event,
which are relevant for us and ought to have a bearing on our lives today, in
the 21st, respectively the 1sthijri century are
not a concern of history, but a matter of spiritual grooming: iman and taqwa.

One of the strongest traits in
human nature is to give great importance to outward appearances and
manifestations at the cost of neglecting the inward qualities and realities,
which are their real source and raison d’être, and this is perhaps the reason
why the martyrdom of Husayn (r.a.) is commemorated the way it is being
done, portraying and emphasising it as a historical tragedy and humanitarian
failure, neglecting its underlying reality, being an event of supreme spiritual
splendour and glory. Indeed, if this
underlying reality was not there, Islam as a creed would have lost a great deal
of its credibility.

Having feelings of devotion and
love for the illustrious grandson of our Noble Prophet (s.a.w.) and the
martyrs of Karbala who laid down their lives in the defense of the Truth and
that, which is right, against an onslaught of falsehood and evil in the form of
despotism, is not a prerogative of the Shi’ite Muslims. As a matter of fact, any Muslim who does not
share such feelings of veneration and adoration for those noble warriors of Haqq
must be considered spiritually crippled. It is only human to be temporarily veiled from
the glorious reality of their martyrdom by evoking its tragic scenario on the
plain of Karbala, and experiencing a feeling of sorrow, to get stuck in such
gloom, however, or even intentionally clinging to it and seeking to increase it
in a public display of grief and self-castigation, is hardly convincing as a
sincere expression of love and devoutness. Love, devotion and adoration are notions of an
extremely positive nature, and the response of the Real to the pursuit of
goodness is invariably happiness and serenity; this is the established Sunnah
of Allah (s.w.t.). Not allowing
that veil of sorrow to be lifted by this Sunnah of Allah (s.w.t.),
and insisting on focusing on the atrocities of the tyrants and oppressors
instead is not only a denial of the Goodness that our Generous Rabb Brought Forth
from their very wrongdoing and cruelty, but a denial and denigration of the
supreme victory that Husayn (r.a.) and his valiant companions in the
Scales of the Real, which they achieved by their sacrifice. One may grieve over something one loses, but
one cannot lose something that one does not have! We are talking about the physical presence,
respectively the dreadful manner in which the physical life of the Prophet’s (s.a.w.)
beloved grandson came to its glorious conclusion, martyrdom, because if it were
his spirit or his spiritual reality that is at issue, the question of loss, or
the grief about the circumstances of his physical death would not be relevant
at all.

The only thing, of what
transpired on the plain of Karbala on that fateful day, which has relevance for
us, in our present-day lives, is the glorious example of taqwa,
steadfastness and uncompromising upholding of what is just, right and true,
that Husayn (r.a.) and the martyrs of Karbala have left behind for us as
a legacy to follow, or at least to aspire to follow, everything else is
pathetic self-indulgence. Martyrdom in
Islam is the greatest honour that any believing Muslim can wish for, and there
are many ahadits to that effect. In one of them, it is stated that, after
seeing the reward their Lord Bestows on the martyr for the ultimate sacrifice
he has made for Him, the martyr wants to go back, and go through the agony of
death again and again, because it is a trifle in comparison to the Reward and Honour
he Received for it. The Noble Prophet (s.a.w.)
called Husayn (r.a.), “the Prince of the Youth of Paradise”, from which
we can conclude that he knew that his noble grandson would die in the prime of
youth, and what fate had been ordained for him, and yet, he did not do anything
to avert it, although his station with Allah (s.w.t.) was certainly such
that his intersession would surely have had some weight but Allah (s.w.t.)
Knows Best. Lastly, and most
importantly, Allah (s.w.t.) Himself States in the Qur’an, that the
people who are slain in the way of Allah (s.w.t.) are not to be
considered dead, but they are alive and sustained by their Lord. Would we, who claim to be his lovers and devotees
deprive our hero of all this by having the events at Karbala having taken a
different turn?

So, what are those people
mourning, and why are they not celebrating instead? Celebrating the eternal – and that means ever,
even at this very moment present – bliss, which keeps descending upon those
noble souls, instead of lamenting their long passed physical suffering, which
lasted but an instant in comparison with the eternal bliss they have been
enjoying since, and although that suffering might have lived on as an agony of
grievous memories with those, who witnessed it, it could not have lasted as a
living memory longer than a generation. Is
it a lack of faith in the reality of all those glad tidings that have been given
about the status and condition of martyrs, or do those people seek to derive
some kind of gratification in the sensation of grief and pain? It certainly must appear like that, if one
observes those mass gatherings where people listen to passionate speeches by
religious demagogues, under the influence of which they work themselves emotionally
up into some sort of an ecstasy of ‘religious masochism’.

The last thing, I intend with
saying all this, is to stir up sectarian strife. I have Shi’ah friends, and I have prayed with
Shi’ah jama’ah in their mosques, and I did not and do not feel a lesser
Muslim on account of that, but the ‘Muharram cult’, as it can be observed,
particularly in the Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent, appears to be more of a
cultural phenomenon than a religious one, like a lot of other traditions that
have somehow found their way into the religious observances of the Muslims –
Shi’ahs and Sunnis alike – and that have resulted in the emergence of a
religious culture, separate from, or additional to the pristine simplicity of
the Diyn. If such traditions that
are observed by one fraction of the Muslim community, while another fraction is
opposed to them, pose a conflict of such dimensions that it has become a
security concern for the authorities, so that anti-riot precautions have to be
taken, then obviously something has gone very wrong. It is utterly futile trying to judge, which of
the fractions is right, and which is wrong. The Noble Prophet (s.a.w.) has said
words to the effect, “The difference of opinion among the men of knowledge of
my ummah is a Mercy”. These words
of wisdom however must not be taken as a license to neglect or undermine the
intended cohesiveness of the teachings of the Noble Prophet (s.a.w.),
which is a very important issue in this context. Allah (s.w.t.) has Ordered us in His
Holy Word, to get firm hold of the ‘Rope of Allah’, and not to fall into
schism. The metaphor, used here,
obviously emphasises the vital necessity of unity within the ranks of the ummah,
and what is clearly expressed thereby, is the need to cling to the essentials
of the Diyn, on which all Muslims are in agreement, and to refrain from
falling into extremes, which do not constitute a common ground, and therefore,
of necessity, must create splits, dissent and tension among the Muslims.

The Diyn is primarily an
affair between every individual person and his or her Maker, Who is Closer to
us than our jugular vein, and Who is the One to Whom we are ultimately
answerable for our actions. Nobody, not
even our closest companion, is on such intimate terms with us, and this means
that everyone else is ‘an outsider’ to this relationship, and we are basically
alone with Allah (s.w.t.).
Nevertheless, our Generous Rabb has Placed us into a virtually real
context with His Creation, and in this context our lives are linked outwardly
with our fellow creatures in general, and more particularly and intensely with
our brothers and sisters in Islam, and these links impose upon us a share in
some collective responsibilities. Hence,
if we bring any aspect of this very intimate affair, which we have with our
Rabb, out into the open, then we enter it into this common realm, and are
responsible for any effects and consequences it may have there. In the privacy
of our solitude, we can go to any extremes in our relationship with Allah (s.w.t.),
but in public, the general consensus on what is appropriate of religious
practices should be respected. This is
the conduct that has been enjoined on us by our a’immah, scholars and
sages, irrespective of their madzahib, persuasions and schools of
thought, and that was adhered to by them as a living example, with but a very
few rare exceptions, where they experienced states in which they had no control
over their actions.